Rhetoric vs. Reality: A Critical Analysis of Georgia’s Official Curriculum for United States History
Date of Award
Winter 12-14-2023
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education in Secondary Education - History (Ed.D)
Department
Secondary and Middle Grades Education
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Jillian Ford
Second Advisor
Sohyun An
Third Advisor
Guichun Zong
Abstract
As there has been an increasing focus in education on standards-based instruction and accountability through standardized assessment, it is extremely important to analyze the standards closely. This study sought to explore and understand whose voices, experiences, and perspectives are represented and prioritized in the curriculum through the analysis of state standards and additional curricular resources. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, this qualitative content analysis was designed to examine three of the curricular resources developed by the Georgia Department of Education to investigate how the Georgia United States History curriculum addresses race, racism, and representations of communities and individuals of Color. The documents published by the Georgia Department of Education were analyzed using ATLAS.ti software and coding methods from a replication of methods from the Heilig et al. (2012) study, “The Illusion of Inclusion,” which analyzed the Texas state standards; however, this study expanded the analysis by examining the curriculum beyond the Georgia Standards of Excellence and completing an additional analysis of the curriculum through the tenets of Critical Race Theory that allowed for open coding to discuss the nuanced and complex discussion of race, racism, and representations of communities and individuals of Color within the curriculum. The findings reveal that the curriculum prioritizes a Eurocentric narrative that promotes an incomplete and inaccurate history that upholds white supremacy and is harmful to students of Color through the exclusion of discussions of race and racism, while also marginalizing experiences of communities and individuals of Color.